Join Village Republican Women at our annual membership meeting on March 28. Both State Representative Jim Murphy and former State Representative Patricia Harless will speak about the importance of Republican women, why joining Village Republican Women is important, and how hard the Democrats are fighting to turn Texas blue.

The Honorable Patricia Harless is a fourth generation Texan and native Houstonian with deep roots in the community as a small business and civic leader. In 2006, Patricia was elected to the Texas House of Representatives (HD-126) and served five terms, retiring in January 2017. She served on the Transportation, Calendar, State Affairs, and Licensing committees, as well as the chair of Environmental Regulations Committee. Harless served as a board member of the Texas Motor Vehicle Board (1998-2005), being appointed by both Governor George W. Bush and Governor Rick Perry.

State Representative Jim Murphy was raised in and represents HD-133 in west Houston. Along with Representative Harless, Murphy was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2006. He currently serves as Chairman of the House Committee on Special Purpose Districts and is a member of the Ways & Means Committee. Murphy also serves as Floor Leader for the House Republican Caucus. He has been recognized for his work by numerous pro-business and pro-taxpayer groups as an effective advocate for reducing burdensome regulations and improving workforce development programs.

VOTING! VOTING! VOTING! We’ve all heard a lot about it and worked hard for the outcome in the last six months and now the long awaited Primary Election is almost over. If you haven’t voted yet, you have one more chance to vote and that is Tuesday, March 6, 2018. Please, don’t let it go, it is always important but this year, it is critical that you vote. The Democrats have had record turnouts in their Primary that could spell disaster for our Party, so get out there and vote Tuesday.

Village RW wants record turnouts in their membership for 2019. If you haven’t renewed or brought your guests to one of our meetings, you have another chance at our next meeting on March 28 at the Houston Racquet Club. There you can join and your guests can join and if your guests join, you will get your next month’s meeting lunch FREE. We have two great speakers, Rep. Jim Murphy, and the Hon. Patricia Harless speaking on ‘What it means to be a Republican Woman’ and ‘Why you want to be a member of Village RW’. This will be your last chance to join and have your name listed in our 2019 Directory. A few spaces for Ads are still available until that time.

Sometime in April or May, the Harris County Republican Party will be partnering with Village RW to open the Westside HQ on our ‘side’ of town. Nancy Scott and Rajada Fleming are in charge of setting up and running the Center which will hold events, special speakers, and have volunteers calling etc. If you have an interest in being a part of this great effort, please contact Nancy or Rajada.

Stay hard at work and don’t give up….our Party needs us more than ever.

Last week we celebrated the first year anniversary of the Inauguration of our awesome President. His many accomplishments in his first year in office gave us an idea of the many ways he is truly Making America Great Again. It makes us excited looking forward to what’s in store the next three years: THE wall, healthcare reform or maybe even more job growth. Who knows, but we love it.

Thank you President Trump – Texas Republican Women love you!

February 21, 2018 will be our only remaining meeting on the third Wednesday due to a conflict with the Racquet Club on our usual day. Our March meeting on March 27, 2018 will put us back to our usual fourth Wednesday of the month meeting day.

Also March 27 is our annual Membership Meeting with speakers reminding us why it’s good to be a Republican Woman, how to be more active, and why you want to be a member of Village Republican Women. Keep watching as more details come out about that meeting. You will want to join or renew your membership by March 31 to be listed in the 2018 Membership directory. If you are interested in buying an ad in the Directory, please click here or find more information in the attached newsletter.

We have an exciting meeting planned for February 21 with Judge Ed Emmett speaking. Come early around 10:45a.m. for a special Candidate Meet and Greet allowing you to ask questions one-on-one with each candidate to give you the information you need before early voting begins February 20, 2018.

Our year will certainly be an exciting one and Village RW looks forward to getting to know you, our members, and hearing from you.

We have the pleasure of welcoming Judge Ed Emmett as our guest speaker at the February General meeting. He will discuss the election year. with a speech entitled, Looking Past the March Primaries, Onward to November.

Judge Emmett is the Director of Harris County’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, chairman of the Harris County Juvenile Board and chairman of the Conference of Urban Counties Policy Committee.

Edward M. Emmett became Harris County Judge on March 6, 2007.

A member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1979 to 1987, Judge Emmett was chairman of the Committee on Energy, a member of the Transportation Committee, and represented the state on numerous national committees relating to energy and transportation policy.

Happy New Year everyone as we welcome in 2018! Hope you had wonderful holidays and are getting back to work well rested.

Thankfully, we also welcome the long- awaited TAX REFORM BILL which was passed just before Christmas. The Country we love so much has made history with it’s passage after being advocated for by Conservatives for many years.

But it won’t be smooth sailing next year with the Congressional election upon us. There are 10 Liberal Senators up for re-election in states where President Trump won and we can help… there will be phone banks and direct mail that we can be involved in to make sure these Liberal Senators do not get re-elected. Get involved in Harris County and don’t let Harris County turn into San Francisco. Remember if Harris County goes Blue, Texas goes Blue and there will not be a Republican elected in Texas in the future. Help us send the Democrats a message and don’t let that happen, let’s affect the entire country from right here in Texas. Stay busy working for Republicans in Houston.

One thing we can do is attend TFRW Leadership Day Saturday, January 27, 2018 in Austin. What a great way to pick up ideas that help us run our clubs so our members know what they are to do to support our Republican Candidates and Elected Officials and how to do it.

It’s not too late if you find you now are able to attend the Greater Houston Council’s 55th year Anniversary Celebration on Jan 5, 2018, see the flyer in the January newsletter and just call me to tell me you can attend and bring your check that day. We have such a fun luncheon planned you won’t want to miss it.

Robin Armstrong who is our National Committeeman, will be speaking at our next meeting on the 17th. He will update us on the DC ‘swamp’ and tell us how we can help drain it. A great speaker with good information.

I am so excited to be Village’s new President even though I realize I can not adequately fill the capable shoes (literally) of former President Buffie Ingersoll who, with her great ideas kept us busy every month slaying Democrats. Don’t go far, Buffie, we want to hear from you.

Robin Armstrong was elected as the National Committeeman from Texas in June of 2012. He is a politician and physician who served as vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas from 2006-2010. Dr. Armstrong has a B.S. in microbiology from Texas A&M University and an M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. He did his residency in internal medicine and is on the staff of the Mainland Medical Center in Texas City, TX.

Dr. Armstrong has been active in both politics and his community. He has traveled on missionary journeys to Africa and Nicaragua and worked in inner city and youth ministries in addition to leading a men’s Bible study group. His activities in grassroots Republican politics include serving as a city chair, an election judge, a precinct chair, a poll watcher, a convention delegate, a Senatorial District Convention chairman, the State Republican Executive committeeman for Texas Senate District 11 and most recently, the Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.

Dr. Armstrong and his wife Martha, who is also a medical doctor, have four sons, Daniel, Gabriel, Joshua and Noah.

This will be my last note, as my reign and crown are fading. It has been a pleasure and honor serving as your President these last two years. But I could not have done it without the amazing board members.

Kathaleen, Wow she really set the bar high when it comes to providing fantastic programs. I can’t even begin to cover all the hosting, events, sponsorships and hours she contributed to VRW.

Eleanor…. Membership Chair Extraordinaire! She took the Village Membership to new heights! Her professionalism, follow up, friendliness, creativity, and cooking are second to none!!!

Mary Grace sure found her passion and led us in Patriotism in so many wonderful ways.

Rajada, while she is small, she cannot be ignored! I could always count on her to step up when there was a need (Parliamentarian, hospitality, newsletter, etc). Not only that, she won the 2017 TFRW award for Most Improved Newsletter! Speaking of Rajada, she will only give me so much room on her newsletter so I cannot go into every member of the board, but THEY WERE ALL THE BEST a President could ask for and I am grateful to them!

VRW won the highest awards NFRW and TFRW had to offer. I was very proud to be able to represent you at the conventions. Our club has a well-known reputation as an active, fun, profitable and supportive organization to the Republican Party here in Houston. I cannot tell you how many times I had elected officials and candidates tell me they were told they need to get our attention. VRW campaign center was the only satellite office that did not cost the party money… in fact, we made them money! Not to mention the thousands we contributed to the campaigns. I could go on and on, but alas, Rajada won’t let me.

So, thanks for the memories and I hope to see each of you at the Christmas Party as we wind down this year and look forward to 2018!

Leslie May has a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and has worked for a variety of major chemical companies. She is also an election judge, forensic chemist, technical editor, veteran of the Boston Marathon and Special Assistant to Harris County GOP Chairman Simpson. Leslie will speak about “Revitalizing the Houston GOP in the Wake of Harvey.”

The November Meeting will focus on celebrating our veterans. Please bring a framed photo of a veteran you wish to honor as a centerpiece for the table. We will present checks to Kelly Raley, Executive Director of Helping a Hero and Mea Williams, President/CEO of Grace After Fire. They will each spend 10 minutes to tell us about their organization and its impact on veterans.

Michael Dokupil is the chair of the North Korea division of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF). He first began working on HRFs “Disrupt North Korea” program in 2015 during a site visit to Seoul. It was at this occasion that he was able to meet numerous defector and refugee partner organizations, and learn more about how outside information is the key to liberating the North Korean people. In the past two years, Michael has helped the program grow through various initiates, events, and new partnerships as the organization continues to increase the flow of outside information into North Korea.

Michael has met with many North Korean defectors about the regime and will share interesting perspectives. Michael is a life-long Houstonian and he co-founded SFC Management in 1999 where he focuses on statistical arbitrage trading strategies.

As I write, the Texans are playing the Titans in a full stadium, following the singing of the National Anthem in which EVERYONE IN THE STADIUM WAS STANDING! A perfect example of the people of this great country, finally becoming outraged enough to band together and speak out for our principles! I was prepared to act out my own protest… if all the players didn’t respect the anthem and stand, and Gary tried to watch the game, I was ready to boycott the kitchen and he would go hungry!

We still can make a difference, but we must stay vigilant! One hurdle passed this week… After Governor Abbott agreed to send Mayor Turner 50 million for the flood repairs, Turner has decided not to go through with the vote on the property tax hike. I’d like to go to City Council and remind them these are the same people they voted to SUE over the sanctuary city laws. I don’t believe he would have won, anyway. But there is still a lot to vote on in the coming election and we will be giving you details.

I am so very proud of how generous VRW members have been to their sisters who were affected by the flood. Mary Grace will be announcing soon, the amount and how the money will be distributed. Thank you ladies, for your big hearts!

Only 2 months left in this year for VRW but we have a full schedule. Kathaleen has some awesome speakers for your meetings and a couple of fun, and informative extra events. Also, Nancy Scott, the Chair of the 2016-17 fundraiser has decided due to the turmoil from Harvey, we are going to have a new twist on our fundraiser… A non-event event.